Ryan McBride/Staff photographer
Santa Claus, impersonated by York resident Alex Marshall, waves to a large crowd at the Santa Ski fundraising event Saturday.

PORTSMOUTH — It may be a shock to some that water skiing in freezing conditions on the Piscataqua River really isn't so bad in December, especially when it's for a good cause.

“I love water skiing and it seemed like fun idea, even in the winter,” Portsmouth resident Jamie Richard, 30, said.

Dressed in a reindeer costume with a red shiny nose and a wet suit underneath, Richard geared up with eight others and fearlessly plopped into the river at the Isles of Shoales Steamship Company pier. Each deer tied their line to a small boat and sat in a water tube with skis on their feet before they were whisked away. Most with one swift motion some, but not all, of the gun-ho players made it above the water's surface for a stunning display. They raced around the river and returned, after minutes of coasting, for another trip out to the frigid water.

Margeta Weber, 26, of Manchester, was among the couple of Santa's reindeer left bobbing in the water on the first ski trip.

“I'm freezing but it's a lot of fun,” she said, as dozens crowded the pier and cheered. “All the fans, everyone's out … It's something wild to do.”

All the participants were under the direction of York resident Alex Marshall, a 26-year-old Eliot, Maine, native who rallied his friends together to do something a little crazy and little absurd. Marshall, who dressed as Santa Claus for the day, said his friends started skiing in the winter last year as a stunt. But this season, they wanted to take their popular performance and attach it to a good cause.

Click image to enlarge

Ryan McBride/Staff photographer
End 68 Hours of Hunger was in attendance as one of the charities at Santa Ski on Saturday.

Click image to enlarge

Ryan McBride/Staff photographer
Some of Santa’s reindeer water ski Saturday for the fundraising event.

Saturday afternoon the daring water skiing event served as an attraction for the local End 68 Hours of Hunger cause, a not-for-profit, volunteer effort that stands to confront the approximately 68 hours of hunger some American school children experience between the free lunch they receive in school on Friday afternoon and the free breakfast they receive in school on Monday morning. A booth was set up as hundreds gathered for hot chocolate and clam chowder, and listened to a band play, before the young thrill-seekers set out on the Piscataqua. The infamous Grinch, of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas tale, also participated in a dunk tank with attendees

“(Last year,) we ended up getting close to 100 people down there watching us and you know when we saw that turnout and after we were done we thought, 'We really need to turn this into a fundraiser,” Marshall added. “It's the time of season where a lot of people are in need and we wanted to keep it local … ”

When asked what it was like riding out on the river, with snow falling and freezing temperatures, Marshall said he barely notices the conditions.

“Out on the water, it wasn't so bad, to be honest with you,” he said. “Your adrenaline is running so much, it's quite a fight to pull yourself out of the water with all that gear on and your blood is flowing pretty well. You honestly don't feel the cold as much as you are trying to put on a good performance for the crowd and that's pretty much it.”

A friend of Marshall's, Eliot, Maine resident John Cosco, 28, dressed in a green elf costume, said he wasn't very cold after he went water skiing, even after he fell in accidentally on an earlier run.

“It's really not that bad, because I'm used to the North Pole,” he joked.

Alex Marshall's mother, Lisa, looked on as the crowd cheered. She expressed her confidence in her son's capabilities out on the water, and said how proud she was.

“It's amazing what they've done,” she said, noting she wasn't worried for her son at all. “He's crazy enough to do it.”